Our last week of Mexico was not what I expected. We had spent a couple weeks in the village of Santa Maria planning daily church services for kids and adults. We had created friendships in the community and were able to see changes in the people there. Our main contact, Samuel, moved us to stay with him the last week. Samuel and his cousin, Francisco, run a church in a nearby village called Jerusalen. I was really excited to spend time with them and learn from them. Along with running the church, Samuel has a job and was in charge of all of the Squad A World Race teams while they were in Mexico and Francisco helped them. So, they were busy men. This resulted in a very open schedule and flexibility.
We spent our time playing soccer with teenage boys, playing jump rope and tag with kids in the town square, helping out with the church services, and tagging along with Samuel and Francisco as they went to meetings and visited other teams. I really struggled that week because I didn’t feel like we were making a difference, an impact, or anything. I went to church the last night we were there and was kind of ready to move on to Guatemala, but during the service Francisco explained what a blessing we had been to the church. He talked about how much we loved, how much we encouraged, and how much we blessed the people in the town. He said that the way we love each other and live in community together is an example to him and the church. The church prayed over us and for us as well as cooked us an amazing meal. I couldn’t believe that he felt that way. Where I had felt we had done nothing, he had felt we did a lot. I was amazed and humbled to hear those words. I had been caught up in what we were “doing” or “not doing” not in just “being” and simply living the life that God has called us to. At debrief, one of the World Racers commented that it we are the same ‘ol me living our lives with Christ, just in another country. I realized that just by us living our lives, living them with Christ and for Christ, and living in community can speak and do more than anything I could ever do with my mouth or hands.
Matthew 5:17 says, “You are the light of the world, a city on a hill cannot be hidden.”
God is in each of us and He is the light within us. He calls us to shine His love wherever we go. I am blessed that God chose to shine through us this week and to receive glory even when we didn’t feel like we were doing anything. This has taught me a lesson about the power of simply being a child of God.
